We help and support the West Sussex Record Office to preserve the archival heritage of our county. Our programme of events has a Sussex based theme.
We hold regular talks with a Sussex theme, produce a quarterly newsletter, The Researcher and an annual journal, West Sussex History. West Sussex Archives Society holds monthly meetings of talks and walks in West Sussex. When possible we aim to have an all-day conference in September. The AGM is held in March and we have a Christmas Get-together for members only. We have a quarterly newsletter "The Researcher' and an annual Journal "West Sussex History' published in the autumn.
11/08/2026
We are looking forward to James Sainsbury's talk on Saturday 5th September! The talk starts at 2pm and there will be a break for refreshments halfway through. Non-members welcome, £10. For details of how to pay by bank transfer please email [email protected]
10/08/2026
WSAS member Alan Green, will be talking at this event and his book 'Mr Cawley's Almshouse' has just been reprinted and will be on sale!
26/07/2026
The latest newsletter can now be downloaded from our website. Booking details for our September, October and November events can be found on pages 14-15.
https://wsas.co.uk/the-researcher-newsletters
18/07/2026
Our visit to Ardingly College this afternoon. We had an interesting guided tour with college archivist Laura, and regaled with (sometimes alarming!) school memories from a former pupil, Richard Howell, our chairman!
22/06/2026
We were pleased to take part in this enjoyable, well organised event. It was useful to connect with some other local societies.
17/06/2026
Sign up for this new newsletter from the Record Office!
(WSAS members will still receive our own quarterly newsletter, ‘The Researcher’, by email. All issues of ‘The Researcher’ can also be downloaded from our website).
✉️ To mark Sussex Day this year, we are launching our new newsletter! Every quarter we’ll be sharing news on forthcoming talks and workshops, publications, online historical resources, research guides, blog articles, collections recently catalogued or digitised, and service announcements. Sign up here: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKWSCC/subscriber/new?topic_id=UKWSCC_1193
16/06/2026
Our July event is for members and their guests only and limited to twenty people - we have ten booked to date (16 June) - so please book soon if you want to be sure of a place.
15/06/2026
Our secretary Leigh Lawson and her husband Richard had another four successful "open afternoons" at their 19th century bakehouse in Broadwater this year, as a fund raiser for WSAS. Over 40 visitors came and saw a collection of related documents and artefacts. It was particularly special to share this piece of history with fourteen local Brownies who enjoyed using the wooden hot cross bun tool on their salt dough 'buns'.
06/06/2026
St John's Chapel in Chichester was a peaceful refuge on a wet and windy afternoon. We had an interesting talk from Alan Green who has written a definitive book on the chapel which opened in 1813, and Dr Alan Thurlow, former organist at Chichester Cathedral, demonstrated the recently restored organ.
28/05/2026
This event is being held on behalf of WSAS, helping to raise funds for the purchase of historical West Sussex documents. Email [email protected] for booking details. Open on four afternoons 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th June from 2-4pm.